To Fear, To Be Feared, and To Fear Again
by adriannecchuck
Summary: My name is Jadelyn August West, and I fear not.
1. Just Another Night

My house is completely silent, save for the sound of his footsteps steadily climbing up to the stairs to the bedroom floor. The thumping stops abruptly, he's reached the top of the stairs. Seconds of silence pass, as he decides my fate for the night. I clench my eyes tight and silently play to every higher deity I can think of, that he'll take 10 steps into his room, rather than the fatal 4 into mine.

**One.**

_Please._

**Two.**

_Just._

**Three.**

_Continue._

**Four.**

_Walking._

**Five.**

_Please._

**Six.**

I'm safe. Tonight isn't going to be one of those nights…but then, why did he stop at six? And why do I hear my door handle slowly turning?

I sink further into my covers, keep my eyes shut and try to steady my breathing. Maybe if he thinks I'm asleep, he'll leave. That's worked a few times. I feel a cold, calloused hand running across my forehead, and his alcohol-filled breath puffs against my cheek. No luck tonight, I guess.

"Hello Jadelyn."

Suck it up, it's just another night. You've been through this before. You're Jadelyn August West, for fuck's sake. You can do this.

"Hello father."

* * *

Hey guys, this is my first ever fanfic, so leave your reviews yeah! Even if it's a real nasty one, those are welcome too. :)


	2. What does Vega want

I'm on autopilot mode.

Showered and washed up? Check.

Make up? Check.

Coffee, black, two sugars? In hand.

I look at my reflection in the rear view mirror one more time to check my makeup. I may feel like I've been thrown a thousand feet off a helicopter, and then run over by a bus, but damn I look good. Thank grilled cheesus for theater make up classes. I open my car door and march towards the entrance. Students flee left and right, trying to get as far away from me as possible. The entire Hollywood Arts High School population, teachers included, fear me. They should. Say, do, or even think anything against meand they'll be dealing with the business end of my second favourite pair of scissors. No way am I letting my beloved scissoring scissors touch some stupid clammy skank.

The first thing I see after I barge through the steel-framed double doors is Tori Vega standing beside my locker, staring down at her PearPhone, probably on the slap or something. God, I hate that girl. i completely ignore her presence and I start turning my locker combination.

24, 2, 13, pull - and of course it doesn't open...and why is Vega staring at me?

24, 2, 13, pull - what the chiz? The hell is wrong with my locker? And the hell is wrong with Vega? She's still staring at me. I know I'm hot but please Vega, get your eyes off me.

One last time before I tear this metal door down.

24, 2 - Okay I can't deal with this. What the fuck does Vega want?

"WHAT VEGA?" Damn, the girl looks terrified. I mean, she's half latina but right now she's almost as pale as me. Awesome, good to know I still have that effect on her.

"I...uh...Jade we have to write that script for Sikowitz's class, it's due next week and we've only got the weekend left to write it so we might wanna get started if we wanna get a good grade because..."

That crazy coconut Sikowitz had us doing yet another one of those bonding exercises, and of course I had to get paired up with Vega. People need to deal with the fact that I don't like her, and that's the way it's going to stay.

I snap out of my thoughts and turn to her and wow, she's still rambling away. I must really make her nervous. I glare at her, whipping out my scissors from the waistband of my jeans, "Well then Vega quit yabberin' away, since you seem all too eager to spend the weekend with me, be at my house at 8pm, make sure you feed your skinny ass before you come. And you better not be late, or else." I snip my scissors in front of her face a few times for good measure, slam my locker and walk away.

Damn, now I have to spend the weekend with Vega, I'm gonna need more coffee.

* * *

Wow guys, didn't expect so many follows and favourites, thanks. Especially didn't expect one from Quitting Time, special shout out to you, read all your stories, all A+ awesome.

This story was originally for an English class narrative essay on fear. I guess I'll be writing it into an actual story now. Do be warned though, I am in the process of preparing for my O level exams so updates may be rather sporadic, but here's a quick little one for y'all.

Go ahead and yell at me in the reviews, or if you wanna say something nice, that's cool too.


	3. Cat's a hugger

This salad is disgusting, lettuce and mango my ass. Tastes more like dead leaves and yellow rubber gloves. I would know, of course, I've eaten them both during games of truth or dare in middle school. How does Festus even make money off this food? I continue pushing around the greens and yellow chunks, paying semi-attention to what the gang was talking about. Beck was trying to give Robbie tips on talking to girls, with Rex throwing in comments here and there, Tori and Andre were discussing some music writing assignment they were working on, the only thing missing from this picture was...

"Jadey!" Cat squealed as the plonked herself right next to me.

"Don't call me that," I said with a slight frown. I could never really get mad at her, she's my best friend, and nobody could get mad at Cat anyway.

"...okay Jadey," she muttered with a slight pout. Fucking pout. Nope. No pouting for Cat. I gave her a little side hug, hoping to cheer her up. It did, and a 100-watt smile appeared in an instant. God, the things I do to make this girl happy.

She squealed and wrapped her arms tight around me and squeezed, hard. I yelled, shoved her off my body and shot up from my seat. Now everyone is staring at me.

"Whoa you okay there Jade?"

"Well what's got Jadey's panties in a twist?" Rex sniggered at me. Goddamn puppet. I swear, one of these days, I'm going to burn it and mix the ashes into a cup of coffee and offer it to Robbie.

All eyes are on me, waiting for a response of sort. A pair of chestnut brown ones stand out from the rest, looking particularly concern and contemplative, like she was trying to put together a mystery 1000 piece puzzle, but only had a 100 pieces. I can't have her figuring things out. No. Anything but this.

"Never say that word again, and how would you know I've even got those...things on anyway?" I grab Robbie's box of fries and storm off, back into the school building.

"Hey! I wasn't done with those!"

Well, now you are.

* * *

I lock the door of the janitors closet and slide down against it. Fuck, my arms are throbbing. Imagine that last night, I stabbed you in the upper arm with scissors and that 2 minutes ago, the Hulk made an appearance and squeezed them as tight as he possibly could. Good, now you know how I feel.

I fish out a bottle of ointment from my bag and massage it onto my arms. Slowly munching on Robbie's fries, I sit there in silence, waiting for lunch to be over, and for the ointment to set in.

Fuck, I've had enough for today. Maybe I should just head home and and sleep everything off. Or float around in the hot tub.

No. I can't do that. That would make my little scene during lunch seem even more suspicious, and then Vega would probably start asking questions and never leave me alone.

I stand up and brush myself off, checking myself in the mirror in the corner of the small room.

"Come on, you can do this. You're the best actor in this goddamn school. Put on a show for everyone. Now put on that famous Jade West smirk and walk out that door and into the halls like you own it."

And there goes the bell, just in time.

* * *

And that's it for the third chapter, hope y'all enjoyed it. The number of hits on this story makes me kinda nervous, never had so much attention on my writing before, and I really don't wanna disappoint you guys. Leave a review if you have any ideas, suggestions or comments. Love you guys, even the haters. Especially the haters. :)


	4. Cold Hearted Snake

2 minutes till the bell goes, and I'll be free for the weekend. Sikowitz is blabbering on about how to play a character that's feared by others. I've think I've got that part down and nailed. 1 minute more. I'm so ready to leave school. get home and enjoy the weekend. Other than that slight mishap during lunch, I'd say that today wasn't too bad, but I'm so glad it over.

Wait. Vega is going to be in my house in a few hours. This day just went to hell, once again.

"...and to send you off for the weekend, please remember to take a coconut each from the box by the door. I had them imported from Fiji. Remember to do your assignment. Class dismissed."

Needless to say, none of us took a coconut.

* * *

I'm awoken by three loud knocks. I groggily pick up my phone to check the time. Fuck, 8.04pm. Looks like my after school nap turned out to be longer than I had planned. I roll not so gracefully off the couch and trudge toward the front door, flinging it open, and staring at Tori expectantly.

"Umm...can I come in?" she says after a few moments, when she realizes that I'm not going to invite her in.

"Nobody's stopping you," I snap back, placing one of my hands on the door frame, leaning against it.

"But you're standing in the middle of...oh never mind." With a sigh, she ducks under my arm that's leaning against the door fame and walks into the house.

I close the door behind her, as she stands in the hall, looking at some of the family photos that are on display. She stares particularly long at the photo of my parents, my sister and I. Well, here come the questions.

"Jade, I didn't know you had a sister." See. Vega's predictable like that, and also incapable of minding her own business.

"Why would you know? She doesn't even live here." I call back as I start climbing the stairs to my room. The answer satisfies her and she hurriedly follows behind me, like she may get lost if she doesn't stay close. From the corner of my eye, I see her crack a little smile when she seems my room door. I can imagine why. My door has a picture of the gang from that time we decided to go to the beach in Beck's rv hanging in the middle of it, help up by a small pair of scissor-shaped thumbtacks. As much as those iggits annoy the living hell out of me, I really do care about them. We enter and I tell Tori to make herself comfortable on my bed while I get some writing materials and my laptop. She plonks herself down right in the middle of my king sized mattress and takes in the decor of my room. Black walls, black ceilings, bookshelf, dresser, walk-in-wardrobe, a mini keyboard and voice recording machine, regular room stuff for a Hollywood Arts student. What makes it uniquely Jade is the jars that held strange items set on my display shelf, Bullet for my Valentine and Black Veil Brides posters lining the wall, and of course, my signed The Scissoring poster and prized scissors that I had framed and put up a little after Christmas. My room wouldn't be complete without them.

"So Jade, we have to pick two emotions from this list to center our play around. Which two do you wanna do?" Vega starts off, eyes scanning through the list of words.

I snatch the paper away from her and take a look at it myself. Happiness, love, anxiety, lust, anger, gratitude, depression, fear...blah...blah...coconut visions? Coconut visions isn't an emotion. Trust Sikowitz to write that into the list anyway.

I look back up at Vega and see her looking at me with that same look she was giving me during lunch. Really? Again?

"Now what Vega?"

She pauses and I can see the look of fear and hesitation pass in her eyes, probably deciding whether she wants to speak up or not. She's a smart girl, like that.

"Do you really have to be mean all the time? You don't have to pretend to be a cold hearted snake around me, you know." She responds in a soft, wary voice, suddenly finding the silk thread of my comforter extremely interesting.

Yeah, no way that's gonna happen any time soon, especially not with Vega. I look her head in the eye and respond with the most emotionless, neutral voice, "Have you ever thought, Vega, that maybe, I just don't like you? That I don't want to be nice to you? Or maybe that none of this is an act, and that I just am a cold hearted snake, as you so kindly put it? Actually, if you think about it, I even have green snake eyes to match the persona."

"You know what? Forget I said anything. Let's just get over and done with and then you'll be free to find someone else to be a gank to," she huffs, with hurt evident in her voice, blowing away a lock of hair that had fallen onto her face during our little dispute. It's kind of adorable when she does that.

_Wait what? Where did that come from? You don't use the adjective "cute" to describe someone you hate. Get it together Jade._

"Yeah, I can do that."

* * *

ScottyBgood: You'll find out what abuse Jade gets from her father in time to come, along with the reason why. But by the time I do get that point, you'll be looking for this story in the M rated section.

Bade lover: Well, you guess correct aaaaaand...correct!

Rate, follow, favourite, and umm do whatever else that's supposed to make my story look good, I'm not very sure yet. I don't know how to operate this website when I'm on the writer's side. Just yesterday I found out that I could see where my readers are at and wow I'm feeling the international love. I feel like an old grandma who's recently discovered the magical computer box and types www into url bars.

10 sushi points if you know where cold hearted snake is from. Sushi points because I'm too cool for cookies.


	5. Chocolate Milkshakes & American Burgers

Lust and Anger. That's the two emotions we picked. Well, I picked. Vega insisted that I choose the emotions because I was better at writing plays, and for once, I completely agree with her.

We've been writing non-stop for 3 hours straight, and we're almost done with the script. What we've come up with isn't too shabby, just need to make a few edits and we'll be ready to start rehearsing. Vega hasn't said anything to me besides stuff about the script. I'm ready for a break.

"Hey Vega, you up for a drive and some food? I'll bring you back to crash here after, we can continue working on the script again tomorrow." Might as well reward her for putting up with my shit for the entire day.

"Are you sure your parents are gonna be okay with that?"

"Well, my motsister ever around and dad said he won't be home till Sunday so whatever." I say as I hop off my bed, grab my keys and wallet and start putting on my boots.

"Okay then, I'll just text my folks and inform them."

"God Vega, who says folks anymore? _I'll just text my folks down at the family farm and tell them I ain't gonna be home tomorrow morning to milk the cows!_" I mimick her in my southern belle accent.

"You know I don't live in a farm and I don't talk like that." She grumbles under her breath as she while typing out a text and slipping on her shoes. What a multitasker. A true woman.

* * *

We get into my car and head of. At the first stoplight, I plug in my Pearpod and start scrolling through my playlists for a song.

"Hey Jade, can I pick some of the songs too?" Whoa, what's this? Vega asking to control the tunes in _my_ car?

"Getting ballsy huh Vega? But fine, for that, you've got yourself a deal. You can choose the music on the way back." Gotta hand it to her, even Beck didn't dare to ask for song choice privileges when we rode in my car. I like this brave new attitude of hers, it's starting to grow on me.

I put on some Kings Of Leon and she lets out a breath she was holding, probably relieved that it wasn't some heavy metal music. She seems to be enjoying the music, enjoying the car ride...seems like a perfect opportunity to mess with her, and Jade West_ never_ misses an opportunity to mess with Tori Vega.

The stoplight turns green and I quickly scan the road. No cars. Perfect.

I step on the accelerator and off we go. My baby is an Audi R8 V10 Spyder, going from 0 to 60 in 3.6. Comes in handy when I need to get myself someplace fast, and when you want to scare people into thinking that you're gonna crash the car and kill them. I'm going at 80 and still climbing, and boy is Tori frightened.

"JADELYN AUGUST WEST YOU SLOW THIS CAR DOWN RIGHT NOW!"

God this is even more hilarious than I thought it would be.

"Oh Tori dear, don't you want to feel the warm summer night breeze in your hair?" I smirk as I push a button, letting the top of my car down.

"NOT IF WE'RE GOING AT THIS SPEED FUCK JADE THERE'S A STOPLIGHT COMING UP SLOW THIS CAR DOWN NOW."

"Oooohhhh, what do we have here? Innocent little Tori Vega swearing?" We're going at 95 now. I just ran straight through the stoplight and Vega is really starting to panic. What? There weren't any cars around anyway. I ain't waiting for a stoplight to turn green when there's nobody passing.

"FUCK JADE WHAT WAS A RED LIGHT YOU JUST RAN JADE YOU SLOW THIS FUCKING CAR DOWN RIGHT NOW BEFORE YOU KILL US BOTH AND IF THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN SO HELP ME GOD I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU FUCK."

_"Why, sure Toro, the diner's just round the corner, we'll be there in a jiffy!" _I say in my southern belle accent. I slam the breaks as hard as I can, making Tori scream the highest pitched scream I've ever heard in my life.

I easily swing into a parking lot behind the diner, shut off the engine, and hop out of the car. "My my Vega, who knew that potty mouth of yours could hit those high notes. I'm impressed."

Tori's breathing is heavy, her already white-knuckled hands still gripping tightly to the arm rests. She makes no move to get out of the car or respond to me, just continuing to breathe like as if she just finished running a marathon and squeezing my armrests like a python trying to strangle it's prey.

"Vega, get your sweet ass out of the car before I lock you in it."

She snaps out of her stupor and scrambles out of the car, yelling at me, "Oh my god Jade, what were you thinking driving like that? You could have gotten us killed what the fuck were you doing?!"

I settle into a booth and Tori slides in opposite me. I wave over a waiter before answering her, "Actually Vega, despite what you think, that was actually very safe. Is nothing compared to the 120 I've gone at before. Besides, there were no other cars on the road. I did get you here safe, didn't I? Yes, hi, can we get two chocolate milkshakes, an American burger and a chicken chop. Tell the chef we're hungry so chop chop."

Tori looked at me suspiciously. She didn't say anything but I knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Remember the time I tried to take your part in Steamboat Suzy?" She nods. Who could forget? "Well I didn't just go through your medical records. I found out literally everything I could about you. Your favorite colour, favourite band, favourite clothing store, everything. So i just happen to know you order chocolate a milkshake and an American burger every time you go to a diner. That's right Vega, I know every single one of your dirty little secrets, including the bases you've rounded with each of your boyfriends and I've got to say, not too shabby for an innocent prude like you."

"H...how did you find out all that? That's borderline stalkerish, Jade. Scratch that, I'm pretty sure I have grounds to get a restraining order," she asks, blushing a little.

I smirk at her, "Same way I put that shrimp in your bra, for me to know and for you to never find out."

She accepts my answer, not like there's any other option on the table. "So first you put shrimp in my bra, and now you think I have a sweet ass. Better watch it West, one might think that we're actually friends."

"You aren't half as bad with this sassy attitude of yours, Vega. Keep it up and maybe we can be friends."

I think I'm starting to like her. As a friend.

Get your mind out of the gutter.

* * *

"So Jade, how did you find this place? It's kind of in the middle of nowhere." She asks as the waiter puts down our food.

"Eh, wasn't that hard. Went out for a drive one night and stumbled upon it. Glad I did, food's not too bad and they're open 24 hours." She is right though, there isn't much around here. If you weren't from this neighbourhood, there's no way that you would have found this place.

We eat our food in silence. It's surprisingly comfortable, nowhere near as awkward as the time we were forced to go on a date at Nozu. That was horrible.

Tori finishes her burger and pushes her plate forward. I'm not even halfway done with my chicken chop. I'm a slow eater, sue me. She's sipping her chocolate milkshake and watching me with that smug face on. You know, the one she has on when she has fresh news to tell you and she walks up to you going "haaaaaaay". Yeah. That face. I give her a look and she speaks.

"I thought we might as well take this time to get to know each other. But wait, you already know _every thing_ there is to know about me, so now it's my turn West. It's crunch time." She sat back, folding her arms, slurping her milkshake. Replace that milkshake with a coconut and she would look exactly like Sikowitz.

"Fine Vega, hit me with your best shot." Vega may have gotten more ballsy in the past few hours but there's nothing she could possibly ask me to make me uncomfortable.

She thinks for a while and asks with a blank face, "So you know how you and Beck had sex, did you ever, you know, do it in the back door?"

_What?_ I spit out of chicken and glare at her, "I don't know if you noticed but I'm trying to eat here?"

"I'm aware. So, yes or no?" she says, raising her left eyebrow.

Bitch did this on purpose. "No, I wouldn't even let him go near it. That hole is for shitting, not fucking."

"What up with all those cars and bikes in the garage?"

"The Impala was my dad's old car, handed it down to me when first learnt how to drive. The Audi was because I wanted a fast car and a convertible, so that's a 2 in 1. The bikes are because I thought they looked badass and I would look hot tearing up the road. All presents from my dad. He can afford it, with him and his big shot job and all, not that I actually know what he does."

"Why do you live in the middle of nowhere when you obviously can afford a townhouse in the middle of the city?"

"I like it out here, city's too noisy. And my dad's company got this house for him so whatever."

"Where'd your sister and your mom go?"

"I don't know. Some place good for them I hope."

"Would you ever make out with a girl?"

"Been there, done that. Cat."

That eyebrow goes up again. Ha. Wasn't expecting that huh, Vega?

"Well," I swallow the last bite of my chicken chop and finish up my milkshake, "Q&A session is now over. Get back in the car, I wanna watch a movie before bed."

I slide out of the booth and out of the diner, with Vega yelling and fist pumping behind me, "I GET TO CONTROL THE TUNES NOW WEST WHOOO!"

I like this version of Tori Vega.

* * *

A little explanation about the car: In my mind, Jade has 4 vehicles, 2 cars and 2 bikes, because daddy brings home the big bucks. One car would be a 1967 Chevrolet Impala (bc Supernatural) that was handed down from her father, and the other would be a supersports converatable that was given to her by her father as a birthday present. In this case, I've chosen the Audi R8 V10 Spyder because it wasn't too flashy looking but had great horsepower in those engines. One of her bikes would be a custom 2012 Ninja 205R in black and silver, and the other would be a Harley Breakout in red. I had to do a lot of research and conversions for these.

I think it's unrealistic for Jade to let Tori in emotionally after apparently hating her for so long, you don't go from frenemies to bffs in the span of 2 days, and definitely not if you're as guarded as Jade. So if you're here to see Jade and Tori confess their undying love for each other and bang, then this isn't the story for you...though I can guarantee that will eventually happen. This was kind of a filter-y chapter, wanted to get Jade more open to the idea of becoming friends with Tori.

ScottyBgood: Yeah it was to the song, but I'm thinking more of the glee version because Naya Rivera dancing around in that dress and boots and that voice of hers...damn gurl, see you later in bed ;)


	6. Whoa gay, but hot damn!

"You ain't gonna find any or that Taylor Swift crap in there, so don't even bother looking for those." She's been scrolling through my PearPod for forever. How long does it take to find one song that she likes? My music on there isn't that bad. I'm bored. I need tunes.

I'm about to yell at her to hurry up with the song when she suddenly cracks the biggest smile I've ever seen. That's a pretty huge smile, considering that Cat is my best friend.

"Oh. My. God. Jade." _What did I do? Oh shit did she stumble upon the nudes in there?_

She taps the screen and...

_Hide your eyes and count to ten,_

_Ready or not, I'm gonna find you again!_

Oh god no, out of everything she had to find. "Shut up Vega, the original Hi-5 is classic and you know it."

She smirks at me with that perfectly manicured left eyebrow raise. She doesn't buy it. Damn that smirk and damn that eyebrow.

"Fine, I love Hi-5 and your sweet ass better sing along with me or I'm dumping you at the side of the road." I give her a look saying that she better join in if she knows what's good for her. Lucky for me, she does.

_I will jump and hide from you,_

_I will chase you round and round._

_Skip in time, play peek a boo, _

_Ready or not you're found!_

_Hide your eyes and count to ten,_

___Ready or not, I'm gonna find you again!_

_Hide your eyes and count to ten,_

_Ready or not, I'm gonna find you again and again and again and again!_

"Fuck, this cannot get any more embarrassing. Why did you do this to me Vega?" I can't stop laughing. Who knew that singing along to Hi-5 with Tori could make me laugh that hard.

"Oh West, this _can_ get more embarrassing. Just watch." What? She pushes the button that let's the top down and scrolls for a bit before tapping the screen. Fuck, what's she going to do now.

_Let's try dancing, twirl me 'round,_

_Our feet are tapping on the ground._

_Swing me this way, that way too,_

_I love dancing next to you._

I stare at her mouth agape, is she really going to do this? In Hollywood Los Angeles on a Friday night, where there are bound to be people watching?

"Come on Jade, you know you want to!"

Yep, she's doing it. Might as well hop on the train. I clear my throat and get ready to sing the chorous as loud as I possibly can.

_L - O - V - E,_

_i LOVE YOU AND YOU LOVE ME_

_L - O - V - E,_

_THAT'S THE WAY GOOD FRIENDS SHOULD BE!_

_L - O - V - E,_

_I LOVE YOU AND YOU LOVE ME!_

_L - O - V - E,_

_I LOVE YOU, YOU LOVE ME!_

_L - O - V - E, LOVE!_

_L - O - V - E, LOVE!_

Now, I've officially lost my badass reputation. We even did the actions! No way did we not get spotted by anyone. We're two teemagers in a sports car, singing and car-dancing along to Hi-5 at the top of our lungs. Like you wouldn't notice that.

God, we need to have more Hi-5 karaoke sessions.

* * *

A few more songs and we're back at my house. Tori heads up to my room to clear the bed of our work while I go into the kitchen to make some popcorn and get some sodas for the movie. By the time I get back to my room, it was already dark, the only source of light being the opening credits of a movie on my TV screen. Tori was already under the covers, leaning against the headboard with the remote in hand, and apparently, she had already picked a movie as well. I settled in next to her with the popcorn and sodas between us and looked at what was paused on the screen.

"All you have here is horror movies, so I picked one that didn't look too bad. I mean, just some story about a poor little girl right?"

Okay, if she thinks so. The Orphan it is. I shrug my shoulders and press play on the remote in her hand.

We've gotten halfway through the movie, and Tori's body is completely hidden under the covers, and she was stealing glances at the TV from behind one of my pillows that she was using to shield herself.

"Oh my god, Jade! First she pushes the kid off the slide then she hammers the poor nun to death and now she breaks her own arm how could any little kid even think of doing something like that?!"

I snicker at her, that girl is no little kid. "Yeah Vega, hide behind the pillow and you'll be safe, psycho little girl definitely won't be able to get you now!"

I'm met with a face full of pillow and I throw her a pout in retaliation. _Wow, nice comeback West. Real mature and badass._ Awwwww but just look at Vega, she looks like a sad, angry, frightened puppy. Make that a petrified puppy. She looks so cute like that I just wanna..._whoa. Get it together._

Another scream comes from the TV and Tori jumped and screamed a scream just as blood-curling as the one that we just heard. At this rate, she was definitely going to wake the neighbours. I took pity on her and decided that I would try and keep her calm.

"Come here Tori," I say to her as I put aside the bowl of popcorn and sodas between us and wrap my arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to me. I gently run my fingers through her hair whenever an intense scene comes on. She didn't scream or jump or scream anymore, just made small whimpers and hid her head in the crook of my neck.

It's strange, how comfortable and natural being with her like this felt. Her hair is so soft and silky, not to mention it smells great, like some tropical fruit punch. Typical Vega. Her breath against my neck and her heart's rapid beating made me feel a strange sense of safety and security. Her body fits perfectly against mine and I'm really enjoying leeching off her body warmth. Her head's resting on my shoulder and I look down at her, at those chestnut eyes, at those perfectly sculpted cheekbones, at those pink, kissab- _whoa, gay_. I snap my attention back to the movie, just in time to see the orphan stab the idiot husband to death. Yes, that's something i can manage. Look at all that blood. Don't look at Vega. Think about that sharp, shiny knife. Don't think about Vega.

* * *

The movie's ended and Vega is still clinging on to me for dear life, and I'm still gently stroking her hair. I really don't want to get out of this position but we need to shower and get to bed, we've still got work to do tomorrow.

"Vega, as much as I love cuddling with you, we need to get showered and to bed. Plus, I'm starting to feel like a mama koala and trust me, it's a strange feeling."

I wait for a few seconds. No sign of life from Tori. Did she spontaneously fall asleep or something? I'm about to start prying her off my body when she makes a little whimper. She squeezes my body tighter and looks up at me slowly, "Jade...that was horrible! How could you let me watch something like that?!" she whines.

"You seemed so eager to watch it, getting everything set up and ready and all, who was I to deny your movie choice? Now get off me. I need to shower." I say while yanking her arms off me. It takes quite a bit of effort. The girl may be skinny as an uncooked spaghetti but she's really, and I mean really, strong.

I grab my towel and go into my bathroom. I'm about to lose the door when Tori suddenly yells, "NO! Jade! Don't leave me!"

"What?" I ask her with my wtf face on, "You want me to shower with the door open or something?"

She thinks for a while before looking up and nodding sheepishly. I frown at her, does she not know what a rhetorical question when she hears one?

"Fine Vega, I'll shower with the door open, but I'm closing the shower curtain, if you don't mind." Wuss.

* * *

I finish my shower and walk back into my room with my towel wrapped around my body. Whoa, who hired the cleaners?! My room is completely spotless. The popcorn bowl and soda cans were gone, and the papers that we were working on and my laptop were all on my desk, arranged and organized.

"Wow Vega, neat freak much?" I say as I walk into my wardrobe, searching for some PJs for Tori and I.

"I was bored and I didn't want to sit around waiting for you to finish your shower so i thought I'd clear up for a bit, hope you don't mind?"

"Why hello there, I'm Tori Vega and I'm the best cleaner in the village! Oh please, if you marry me I'll promise I'll be the best housewife ever!" I mock as I walk out of my closet with a tank top and a pair of boxer shorts on, with a towel and some clothes for Tori in hand. Her eyes roam up and down my body before reaching my eyes again, and she raises her eyebrow.

"Like what you see, Vega?" What can I say? I'm hot and I know it.

I expect Tori to advert her eyes, blush, something of that sort, but she doesn't. Instead, she saunters towards me and wraps her hand around my wrist, yanking me against her. She leans into my ear, almost touching it, and whispered in a voice so husky, I'd never thought I hear sweet, innocent Tori Vega use.

"Yeah I think you're hot. What's it to you?" She grabbed the clothes out of my hand and strutted off to the bathroom. And no, she didn't close the door.

**_Hot damn._**

* * *

CALLING ALL JORI SHIPPERS: There is the Afterllen Ultimate Femslash Tournament 2013 going on, and Jori is up on match up #15 against Marceline/Bubblegum. We're winning now but we can't let them catch up! Vote, vote, vote!

I'm probably going to write the next chapter in Tori's POV, voice any objections now or forever hold your peace.

If you weren's singing along in your head during the hi-5 bit then shame on you. Jade's a badass who loves Hi-5. Jade and I are one and the same. I love Hi-5. I'm a 17 year old who people are afraid of for some reason, and I love Hi-5. I'll shout it from the mountaintops. I have no shame. I had the host the new Hi-5 cast once and they were some of the nicest people ever. I still love the old cast more though. Their official youtube channel is Hi5OfficialTV.

The Orphan is a really good movie. If you're a fan of horror and haven't seen it, I promise you won't be disappointed.

I'm really upset because I didn't get to go to SDCC, but bless the lord for YouTube.

Guest: Shhhhh, no spoilers ;)


	7. I didn't expect that, or that

**Tori's POV**

I can't believe that I've finally figured out how to get to Jade! I've been trying so hard to be nice to her and get her to be my friend, when all I had to do was duel with her when it comes to snappy remarks and be adventurous and unpredictable like her. Of course Jade would want a friend who's as witty and sarcastic as she is, why didn't I think about that before? That "I think you're hot" stunt that I just pulled, pretty sure I've got myself into Jade's good books now. And what can I say, Jade is hot. I'd say tonight's went pretty well, much better than I expected. It's kinda fun to mess with her the way she always messes with me.

I finish up my shower and towel myself off. I look at the clothes Jade picked out for me and I have to say, it's as good as not wearing any clothes at all. A thin, white tank top, short running shorts, and no underwear of any sort. I look at myself in the mirror and wow, this top doesn't leave anything to the imagination. Did Jade do this on purpose? First she brings me out for dinner, then doesn't threaten me with murder for finding Hi-5 on her PearPod, and then with the cuddling, and now these scraps of cloth that can hardly be counted as clothes. What's up with this friendlier, softer, "new" Jade? Seems like she actually likes having me around as a friend...maybe even more, judging by her reaction when I was messing with her earlier. Not that I mind though, Jade is a really beautiful girl, sometimes pretty ganky but beautiful, none the less.

I emerge from the bathroom and Jade sits up from under the covers and undresses me with her eyes, just like I did to her before. I decide to use her own words back on her, see how she likes it.

"Like what you see West?"

"Yeah, what's it to ya Vega?"

_Jade West thinks I'm hot._

I crawl into bed and snuggle up close next to her, wrapping my arms around her waist. She may be the ice queen of Hollywood Arts but I can feel her body warmth radiating off her and spreading through my own body. Not to mention she's really cuddly and this is the most comfortable I've felt while being so close to someone.

"Is the spooning really necessary?" she whispers. She makes so move to get out of my arms though, just shifting a little to make herself more comfortable.

"Too bad Jade, you said you liked cuddling with me earlier, so deal with it." I respond as I pull her fully against me.

"Fine, just make sure I'm the big spoon the next time."

_There's going to be a next time_, I think as I drift off into a blissful sleep.

* * *

I stir and roll over, looking at the clock on the nightstand for the time. 5:26am. Damn, I need to wazz. Better find a way to get to the bathroom without waking Jade - wait, where's Jade? She's not in bed anymore. She's not anywhere in her room, and the bathroom is dark, so she's probably not in there either. I place my hand on the spot where she was sleeping. It's cold. She's been gone for a while. Where did she go? She can't exactly bail in the middle of the night and leave me to wake up alone the next morning, seeing that we're in her house.

I roll out of bed and double check the bathroom, no Jade. I turn on the bedside lamp and look around the room and search all the dark corners, behind the curtains, under the tables, in the wardrobe, nothing. No Jade. I don't feel comfortable being in this room by myself. Jade's room is pretty creepy, especially when it's dark and you're the only one inside.

I step out of the room and look up and down the hallway. Clear. Maybe she's in the kitchen, went to get herself a drink or a midnight snack. I'm halfway down the stairs when I spot a small shadow at the landing. I hurry down the rest of the stairs to come face to face with something I'd never thought I see.

It's Jade, curled up with her knees to her chest, tears running down her face, shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

* * *

I kneel down in front of her and take her hands off her face, intertwining my fingers with hers. I give them a gentle squeeze and she slowly looks up. There are tears tracks running down her cheeks and her shiny eyes are red and puffy from the crying. I scoop her up from the floor and carry her back up to her room, dropping her gently in the center of her bed. I go to the bathroom and wet a small towel with warm water. I stood at the bathroom door for a while and looked at her curled-up form on the bed. Jade had stopped crying but a sniffle did come out of her every now and then. I walk over and settle cross legged on the bed, next to her. I gently pushed her shoulder so she would be laying on her back. I bring the warm towel to her face and wipe away the tear stains on her cheeks. I can't help but really look at her. Her glowing, pale skin, those perfectly manicured eyebrows, those soft, pink lips, that little scar under her bottom lip that I've never noticed before. She slowly opens her eyes and I admire those piercing blue-green eyes, it's such a unique colour, unlike my regular brown ones. Even when she just spent god knows how long crying her eyes out, she still looks so beautiful.

Those eyes though, usually they're strong, confident and unrelenting, but now, you can just see the sadness, hurt and tiredness that's in them. It's nothing like those times that she's come crying to be, asking for my help when Beck broke up with her. I've never seen her so broken and on the verge of giving up before.

I put away the towel and pull the covers over Jade and myself. It's no surprise that she immediately puts her arms around me and buries her head into my chest.

"I thought I was gonna be the little spoon the next time we cuddled?" I ask jokingly as I wrap my arms around her, running my hand through her hair soothingly.

She lets out a weak chuckle in response and a quiet "shut it, Vega" and slowly drifts off to sleep. I lay awake for a bit longer after Jade falls asleep. I always knew that underneath that tough and cold exterior was someone with actual feelings, but who managed to make her this upset? Jade has always been one to keep control over her emotions, never letting anyone hold power over her. I'd never expect that someone's words or actions could affect her to this degree.

I'm not usually one for revenge but I'm going to make whoever brought her to this state pay for what they did. I will bring Jade West's happiness back to her.

* * *

I'm rudely awakened by a sudden burst of sunlight landing harshly on my face.

"RISE AND SHINE VEGA, CARPE DIEM, SEIZE THE DAY!" Jade yells at me while dramatically flinging the curtains open. Wow, when did it get so bright?

"What time is it?" I mumble groggily as I try to get adjusted to the sudden bright light.

"It's already 11. Come on, get up, we still got work to do." Jade responds as the climbs on top of me, sitting herself down on my stomach. She's dressed, well not really dressed, in a purple sports bra and some running shorts, with her hair is tied up in a messy ponytail.

I look at her questioningly, did the past 5 hours not happen at all? I look over at the towel rack and see the towel I used to wipe her tears still hanging there. Nope, this morning definitely happened. I guess she doesn't want to talk about it. It's not something I can just brush off and forget about though, I'll definitely be asking her about it later on.

"Come on Vega, up up up! I've already finished my workout and you're still sleeping your lazy ass off," she continues yelling as she starts bouncing on me. Oh. So that's why she's in that outfit. Jade West, in all her half-naked glory is in bed, bouncing on top of me. What a day to be alive.

A smirk starts stretching across her face as she leans down, closer to me, "You gonna get up or you just gonna lie there and stare at me?"

Oh shit, I didn't realize that I was staring. I do the first thing that comes to mind. I wrap my legs around her waist and flip our bodies over so now I'm on top of her, pinning her down. "Yeah I was staring, what you gonna do about that?" I shoot back at her, expecting one of those witty retorts of hers.

What I definitely didn't expect was for her hand to wrap around my neck and pull my face down, nor did I expect Jade's lips to softly press against mine.

* * *

I felt that this was kinda messy but oh well, it was necessary. I would say R&R but you've already R-ed so I guess it's time for you to &R.


	8. We're friends now

**Jade's POV**

Tori's sitting on top of me now, looking smug as ever. She think's she's got me all figured out since she's found out how to be friends with me huh? Well I'll show her. I grab the back of her neck and pull her down for a soft kiss. She definitely wasn't expecting that, judging by the way she froze when our lips touched. Perfect. Glad to know I can still catch her off guard, one way or another. She hasn't pushed me away yet so I guess she doesn't have a problem with me kissing her, so I move my lips slightly and press harder against her. That must have set something off in her as she starts to respond to the kiss, moving her lips together with mine and wow, I did not think that kissing her would be this nice. Her lips are so sweet, so smooth and so soft, more so than any of the other boys or girls that I've kissed, and that's saying a lot, considering that Cat and I were once an item. God, how does one taste this heavenly the first thing in the morning. You know, most people would taste like dead fish before washing up but nope, not Vega. She tastes like strawberries with a hint of vanilla, and I'm quickly getting addicted to the taste. I trail kisses along her jaw to the back of her ear and I manage to get a moan out her.

"Oh god, Jade...what are we doing?" she manages to breathe out in between moans.

"Just two friends, having a bit of fun," I whisper in her ear before tugging lightly on her earlobe and then going back to those sweet lips of hers. I swipe my tongue across her lips, asking for entrance which she doesn't grant me, detaching her lips from mine and rolling her body off me instead.

"I'm single, you're single, what's wrong? Or are you not single and you've just been hiding it from everyone?" I turn to her and say with a slight huff. I really want to get my mack on but Vega's being a real downer right now.

"No Jade, I can't just casually make out with you and be okay with it. Regular friends don't make out with each other and you know that." She says while scrunching up her face a little, like how she does when she says something she doesn't want to. Usually, I find that face kind of endearing but now, it's just getting on my nerves.

"Fine Vega, have it your way." I mutter as I get off the bed and enter my bathroom, slamming the door behind me.

I get a cold shower running to get my body temperature back under control.

"We could be having so much fun out there, but no, prissy little Vega just couldn't handle a simple make out without throwing feelings into the mix." I think to myself as I step inside.

* * *

**Tori's POV**

I watched as Jade stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her. Good job Tori, you just couldn't control your mouth, literally and figuratively, and now you've pushed her away. You've done so well getting her to be friends with you and then you go piss her off, good luck trying to be her friend now.

It's not that I don't want to kiss Jade, I do. I really, really do. I'll admit that when I first came to Hollywood Arts, I was completely entranced by her beauty, her silky black hair and coloured extensions, her flawless pale skin, and those deep, mysterious eyes, I was hooked. Of course, the then proceeded to yell at me for rubbing her boyfriend, and then the idiot in me I had to go and kiss him the very next day, and with the way she treated me subsequently, I'd thought I'd lost all chances of ever being her friend, much less anything more than that, and now she's confirmed that she doesn't want to be anything more than make out and maybe sex buddies. It tugs at my heart, that she doesn't want me the way I want her.

I sigh and retrieve Jade's laptop from her desk, bringing it back to the bed. I open it and the page that's on screen is Jade's slap page.

Had a surprisingly fun night, hope there'll be more to come...  
Feeling: Contented

Yeah...not so sure she still wants to hang out with me now. I minimize the slap window and open up the document with the script for our play. I make a few edits here and there and print out 2 copies, highlighting one part on each copy. By the time I'm done with that, Jade's already done with her shower and is sitting at her dresser, towel drying her hair. She's been watching me work from her mirror, and it's starting to make me uncomfortable. My eyes meet hers in the mirror, and she opens her mouth as if she wants to say something, but no words come out. I patiently wait as she gathers her words and thoughts, and finally she gets up from her dresser chair and comes over and sits at the edge of her bed.

"I...I'm sorry Tori." Hold up. Jade West is apologizing? To me of all people? Bring on the apocalypse. "I shouldn't have gotten mad at you like that. You're right, friends don't just make out with each other, and I guess we're friends now so..." she says softly and looks up at me hopefully. Wait. Does she think that I'm gonna stop being her friend just because she kissed me? Gosh, does she really think the means that little to me, that I would just give up her friendship like that?

I scoot over to her and wrap my arms around her. Man, I've been waiting for the day when I can give Jade a hug without being threatened with death by sharp metal shears.

"Of course I'm your friend Jade, I'll always be your friend," I whisper while running my hands up and down her back soothingly.

"You sure? You know I have some issues, you got a glimpse of it last night. You sure you wanna stick around for that?"

"Always," I say with conviction and kiss her temple lightly to emphasize my decision.

"Okay, okay, enough with the sappy moment, before one of us grows another vagina or explodes from too much endorphins." Jade grinned and patted my back. Of course she couldn't resist breaking up a nice moment, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

**Jade's POV**

It's a new feeling, to have someone say they want to be your friend and truly mean it. The only true friend I've ever had is Cat. Beck doesn't count, we were never really friends, he was more of my fuck buddy and personal punching bag. All my other "friends" have irony her abandoned me because they think I'm too difficult, or just pretend to be my friend because they're scared to do otherwise. So as nice as it is to have Tori promise to be my friend, I can't help but think she's gonna end up running away sooner or later, especially when she finds out about the whole deal with my family...little miss innocent probably won't be able to handle that much fuck up.

I pat her back and pull away from the hug, destroying the mushy moment we were having along the way. Just because I'm her friend now doesn't mean I'm not gonna tease her relentlessly anymore, I wouldn't quite be Jade West if I didn't now, would I?

"Come on, let's get to work. There's some stuff I need to do in the evening." I say to her as I pick up the script with my parts highlighted and stand at a mark.

* * *

We spent the entire afternoon rehearsing and perfecting our play, just in time too. Tori's mom called and said she wanted her back home for dinner, and I offered to drive her home since she got a lift to my house on Friday from Trina and that wazzbag of a sister probably wouldn't be bothered to take her home, so here we are, stopped on the road in front of her drive way.

"So...thanks for the sleepover and stuff. I had a lot of fun," she says, looking down shyly.

"Yeah, fun times Vega. We'll kill it in class tomorrow yeah?"

Tori's lips quirk up a little as she continues staring down at her lap. Where's all this timidness coming from suddenly?

Suddenly, she leans over and kisses the edge of my mouth and whispers a soft "Yeah, we'll kill it," in my ear, before hopping out of my car and running into her house.

Goddamnit Tori. I need you to stop playing around with me. You can't do this to me.

I whip out my phone and quickly type out and send a text.

_To: Cat_  
_Hey kitty, can I come over? Need to talk.  
x J_

I sit there, waiting for a while for Cat to reply. As expected, my phone buzzes about a minute later.

_From: Cat_  
_Sure, come straight in. Door's unlocked.  
x C_

* * *

Well. That's it for now. Tori and Jade ain't gonna happen that quickly. Like I said, I think it's unrealistic.

Drop me any prompts, suggestions, stuff you may wanna see, and me what you think. Also, I love it when people pick apart and critique my writing, so I'll love you forever if you do that.


	9. You're here with me tonight

(Sorry for all the reuploads, I had to change the rating and made sure it got registered. Didn't want to violate any terms of .)

* * *

**Jade's POV**

"Jesus Jade, can't you come in through the door like any other normal person would?"

Cat's facing away from me, messing around on her computer when I slide open the window of her room. I jump down from the ledge and into her room, my boots making a heavy thud as I land. She spins her chair around to face me as I kick off my boots and crawl to the center of her bed.

"Really Cat, you knew I was coming. Would it really kill you to put on a shirt?" Cat absolutely hates clothes. The only time she dresses appropriately when she's in her house is when she has company over. Apparently, I do not render enough importance for her to put a shirt on.

"Why Jade? Is it bothering you? I thought we're past that stage already...or are you here for a little flashback action?" Her eyebrows wiggling suggestively as she sashays over to where I'm seated and lays her shirtless self next to me.

I roll my eyes at her, the sex drive of this girl. Even I couldn't match up to her. "No Kitty I'm here to talk about _her_."

Her eyes light up a little when she hears me mention her in that tone. "Her as in Tori?"

Yeah, Cat knows about my not so little crush on Tori. She questioned me about it after I sang You Don't Know Me at the Full Moon Jam, and I admitted everything to her. Even if I didn't tell her, she probably would have figured it out on her own anyway. She has a knack of figuring out these kinds of things. After all, she is the one that got Beck and I together back in elementary school.

"Yeah...I didn't expect him to come home last night but he did and she kinda saw me after so..." I hear Cat suck in a breath and I look down at her. There's a murderous spark in her eyes, and that usually means bad things are about to happen.

"Wait a second, not only did he hurt you but he did it two nights in a row? One of these days I'm just gonna go over and kill that son of a bitch. Fuck Jade, you know you can't keep letting this happen you know it's not right..." Fuck she noticed me flinch during lunch. That spark has quickly morphed into a fire, and I got to calm her down before her anger gets out of control. An angry Cat is a dangerous Cat. I softly comb through her hair while rubbing the back of her neck, a sure way to calm her down.

"Come on Cat, I've explained to you why I can't do that. You can just help by playing nurse for me when I need you kay?" She's got her eyes closed, visibly trying to calm herself down. A few moments and her breathing evens out again, and the frown lines on her forehead disappear.

"At least try and fight back?" She pleads with a slight pout.

"Sorry Kitten, you know I can't." I apologize, kissing her forehead. I really hate it when she pouts. I hate it when I make her upset.

I lie down next to her and she turns on her side to face me, with a mischievous glint in her eyes. That also usually means bad things are about to happen. Well, bad for me at least.

"So Jadey, you and Tori, did you finally get into her skinny jeans last night?" She asked with a suggestive smirk plastered across her face, her eyes glazed over. That can only mean she's thinking about...

"No! Cat, oh my god, stop picturing Tori and I fucking! Get your filthy mind out of the gutter! Fucking hell, you need to get laid and get rid of all that sexual frustration because it's suffocating me right now goddamnit."

"Well Jadey, if you must know, I got laid last night," typical Cat, always with the comebacks. "But that's not the point. The point is if _you_ got laid last night. So, did you?"

"No I did't get laid last night, but well we kinda kissed this morning..."

"What the hell does "kinda kissed" mean? Did you kiss or not?"

"Calm down there pushy, and you call me the bossy one. But yeah, we kissed and then I wanted to go further but then she stopped me with some stupid 'I can't kiss you if we're just friends' excuse, in which I shot her down straight away and stormed off. And then when I dropped her off at her house before coming here she kissed me goodbye, awfully close to my mouth, I might add."

We both sit there for a minute, thinking about what happened earlier, until Cat breaks the silence. "Why? You want her and it seems like she wants you so why not go for it?"

"I just can't, I'm not ready. The whole deal with my dad, my family, all my other emotional shit, the fact that I'm Jade West and she's Tori Vega, I just don't think I'm ready for all that." I listen to myself as I speak. God, I sound pathetic, like a scared little wimp. I'm Jade West, I fear not. But then, why do I seem to be so scared of Tori Vega? Why am I so afraid of opening up to her and what could possibly be the best thing in my life?

I look up at Cat and nods and purses her lips. She obviously isn't satisfied with my reasoning but gives in to me anyway.

"So..." I smirk, changing the subject, "details on last night."

* * *

Cat and I spent the rest of the day talking, not about Vega, making fun of people on the slap, and watching terrible horror movies. We've moved on from those sorry excuse for horror movies to the unrated version of The Scissoring I always have in my bag. We're not watching the part where the pretty girl's about to get stabbed, or at least I'm watching it. Cat's too busy watching her eyelids.

I've watched this movie a few hundred times, no exaggeration, so naturally, my mind starts to wander. I see the pretty brunette on screen get stabbed, and I'm immediately reminded or Tori. It's horrible, really, how everything I see, do, or say, brings me back to Vega. I see someone dance and I think of the way her slim hips sway when she dances. I read a book and I always subconsciously voice the female protagonist in Tori's voice. I eat a pizza and I remember how bad of a cook she is. I go to Nozu and I get reminded of the time we had our "date" there. I watch the goddamn Scissoring and I'm reminded of her.

The way I think of her, I can't stand it. I just want it to go away. But then again, I'm not really sure if I want that either. I hate her but I love her, and I hate myself even more for it.

It's 12 by the time the movie ends, and Cat is still has her head leaning against my shoulder, sound asleep. I reach over for the remote on the night stand and turn off the TV. I pull the covers over us and settle into bed with her. As I snuggle up with her, I can't help but wish I was burying my face in brunette locks instead of red velvet ones.

* * *

I'm awoken by the sound of bloodcurdling screams. I begrudgingly rolled myself out of bed and fished my phone out of my bag. I don't bother looking at the caller ID, I just hit the "accept call" button and bring the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I answer while stifling a yawn.

"Jadelyn, where were you last night and this morning? You didn't come home last night and I didn't see you at church today. It's nearly noon. Where are you?" Well, I'm definitely wide awake now.

"Uhh...yeah I was at Cat's, school project and all," I lied. My father may like Cat but he doesn't like it when I don't go to church.

"Don't you think you should have made an effort to show up at church today? You haven't attended service in a while." What the fuck? I went for service last week. Why does he care whether I go to church or not?

"Jeez Father, for a regular church-goer, you sure are one hell of a holy man, with all the sex, the drinking and drugs, oh and hmm...hitting and touching your d-"

"Don't you _dare_ talk to me like that young lady," he yelled into the receiver, "I want you home for dinner at 8 tonight or there will be hell to pay," hanging up before I could respond.

So, that went well.

I throw my phone on the bed and open Cat's closet to get out some of my clean clothes to wear. Yeah, I had a drawer in Cat's closet, I sleep over that often. I change into them and go downstairs into the kitchen and I'm greeted by the sound of Top 20 with Ryan Seacrest in the Morning on the radio and the aroma of fresh pancakes.

"Really Cat, not that I'm complaining but how hard it is to put on some decent clothes?" I say as I take a seat on one of the bar chairs at the kitchen counter. Cat's clad in just her underwear and an apron over, and from where I'm sitting, I've got a perfect few of her toned back and legs, and not to mention that cute butt of hers. She doesn't say anything in response, just waves her hand dismissively and continues swaying to the music while flipping the pancakes. I rest my elbows on the counter and prop my head up on my hands. I watch as she sings and dances along to the radio without a care in the world. It's always intrigued me, that no matter how shitty life may be going, Cat always manages to find that ray of sunshine in the darkness. The way she just goes about, day by day, carefree and happy, without worrying about tomorrow, is a task I find utterly impossible. Even after years of being her best friend, I still don't know how she does it.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts by a plate being slid across the counter to me. 4 pancakes with raspberry jam and butter, just the way I like it. She places her own plate of pancakes down, along with a cup of coffee for us each, and takes a seat opposite me.

I grab the mug and take a sip of my coffee. Holy chiz, I swear, this girl is god-sent. "Seriously Cat, how do you manage to make my coffee perfectly every single time? Even I can't do it." I say and I take another sip of my coffee.

She just shrugs and digs into her pancakes. I guess she's just managed to perfect the recipe after years of making morning coffees for me. We finish up our pancakes and go back up to her room. There isn't much to do, and I don't really feel like going home to my father yet, so we just sit around and watch trashy shows on TV.

* * *

It's 7.30. I have to get back to my house for dinner or my dad will be pissed, and don't we all know what happens when he's pissed.

"I gotta go home, father wants me home for dinner," I say as I get off the bed and start packing up my stuff.

Cat goes silent and watches me wearily. She doesn't like it when I go home when she knows he's going to be there. Can't really blame her though.

I pick up my bag and start to walk out of the room. I'm about to cross the threshold of her room when I hear a quiet "Take care of yourself okay?"

I turn back and whisper "I'll try" before closing the door and heading off.

* * *

"You're late, young lady." My father is already sitting at the dining table, food set out. It's obvious that he's been waiting for me and he isn't very happy about it.

I roll my eyes and throw my bag in a corner. "Seriously Dad? It's 8.02. You could have started without me if you were really that hungry," I say as I take my seat at the table.

"Now, what kind of family would we be if we didn't start dinner together? I asked you to be home for dinner at 8. It's currently 8.02, as you so kindly pointed out. Are you, or are you not late?"

"Yes, I am late. I'm sorry about that father." I respond obediently with sarcasm laced in my voice.

He decides to ignore it and starts on his meal, and I follow suit. We eat in silence for a while before he starts to pull the good father act again.

"So Jadelyn, how was school?"

"It was okay," I answer as I continue shoving food into my mouth. My dad may be one screwed up guy but he sure is a good cook.

"Do you have any new plays coming up?" he questions, trying again to start a conversation with me.

"Like you care," I mumble with my mouth full of chicken and potatoes.

He pauses and looks up from his food, staring at me with a silent rage building in his eyes. "Excuse me?"

I swallow my food and look directly into his eyes. "You won't even be there, so why do you care?"

His actions are as calm as a midnight sea but I could sense the boiling wrath in his body. I continue staring at him with challenging eyes, daring him to break. I won't be beaten this time.

He finally lets his anger get the better of him and snaps. He grips my hair and yanks me up by it. He continues holding on to my hair and lift me a little so I'm at his eye level, my feet are dangling slightly off the ground. It fucking hurts but it's nothing I can't handle yet.

"I am your father and you will not talk to me like that, do you understand me?" He spat in my face. He releases my hair but he grabs me by my collar and shoves me into the table, using his body to hold me against it. The edge of the table is digging painfully into my back but I keep silent and continue staring at him with unyielding defiance.

"Go on, keep staring at me like that. You think you're always right huh? You think you're always the top bitch? Well you're fucking not." He sneers menacingly and clocks me in the jaw.

"SOME FATHER YOU ARE. SOME FAMILY WE ARE" I yell back at him despite my throbbing jaw. He throws me on the floor and kicks me in the torso, knocking the air out of my lungs. He storms off into his room and I'm thankful for that. I don't think I could have taken much more without breaking, literally and figuratively. I slowly picked myself up from the floor and limped up to my room. I didn't get hit in the legs but damn the kick in to my chest did me in good.

I strip and check myself in the mirror, just a darkening bruise in the middle of my chest and a slightly swollen jaw, nothing too bad. Thank god I showered at Cat's so I don't have to deal with showering with these bruises. I rub some ointment on my chest and take 2 ibuprofens. I settle into bed for an early night, hoping that it will help my body recover for tomorrow.

* * *

I'm about to drift off to sleep when I hear my window sliding open. I see a silhouette climb into my room from the tree outside and I panic, grabbing the closest thing next to be to defend myself. I turn on my bedside lamp, fully ready to attack the intruder, only to reveal one Tori Vega walking quietly towards my bed.

"Holy chiz Tori, I thought you were some burglar rapist serial-killer. Give a girl a warning will ya?"

She gives me a once-over and tilts her head to the side, looking rather amused. "And you naked with a stuffed bunny is going to ward off a burglar rapist serial-killer?"

I look in my hand and sure enough, the weapon I've chosen to defend myself with is a stuffed rabbit. I sulk and hide him, as well as myself, under the covers, "Whatever Vega, Mr Bugsy could kick you ass. What are you doing here anyway?"

"Well, after seeing you last night like that, I got the sense that something was wrong," she started, sitting on the edge of my bed and removing her shoes. "So I've been sitting on the tree outside on your window since about 7.45, just in case something happened. And obviously something did, with that bruise I saw on your chest and your swelling jaw. You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to, I'm just here to take care of and protect you. Well, if you let me, that is."

I can't help but let a tear escape after listening to her. No one has ever gone that far to protect me, not even Cat. Of course, that's because I demand her not to but that's besides the point. I've never had anyone care for me this much in a long time.

I don't say anything to her, I just rolled over, giving her space to settle in behind me. She reads my mind and takes actions and my silence as a yes, ignoring the fact that I'm butt-naked, wrapping her arms around me comfortingly, careful not to go near the bruised bit of my chest. "It's the third time we've cuddled and I'm still the big spoon. I think I've made you soft, West," she whispers before kissing the back of my ear, making me shiver a little.

I don't know if I'm ready to reveal everything to her, but I'm thankful to have her here with me tonight.

* * *

In this story, Jade and Beck didn't get back together in Tori fixes Beck and Jade, so they're both single pringles. Cat's a single pringle as well.

I have a headcanon that Cat isn't really that innocent and ditzy, that the whole teehee hiii thing she does is just an act. After all, she is Jade's best friend, and I really don't think Jade could be best friends with someone who's as innocent and one-sided as the Cat portrayed in the show. In my mind, Cat is a lot like Jade but because she puts on the front because she believes that if your 'dumb', people will take advantage of you and let their true colours show, and it helps her find out who's actually a friend and who's not. She also does it because she thinks it's fun.

I don't know if there's actually top 20 with Ryan Seacrest in the morning. I don't live in America, even though I really really want to.

I'll admit, I'm not the best story writer. I'm actually a singer/dancer/actor and so I'm more of a screen writer (as you can probably tell with all the dialogue), and story writing comes off as a bit odd for me. Any help, comments, suggestions will be welcome and appreciated!


	10. One Stormy Evening

**Tori's POV**

I'm awoken by a beeping sound coming from behind me. I will It to go away but it doesn't, increasing in volume instead. I groan in annoyance and roll over, hitting the top of the damn alarm clock in an unnecessarily reprehensive manner, as if it would sense my displeasure with it and not go off in the future. 6am? Why the hell would Jade need to get up at 6? School doesn't start until 8.30. Why would anyone need two and a half hours to get ready? I sit up on the bed and turn to look at Jade's still sleeping form.

There's a sliver of light coming through a crack where her curtains are not fully pulled together, making her pale skin look more radiant, her smooth black hair look even shinier. The light illuminates her features perfectly, making her look like an angel basking in the glow of a heavenly light. Rather fitting, I think, since she is definitely one in my eyes.

Through the course of the night, the comforter previously covering us moved to rest on her waist and I currently had the perfect view of her back. I notice a few scars littering the plane of her back, and a wave of sadness washes over me. Someone actually had the heart to hurt her till she bled. I'm tempted to reach out and run my fingers over them, but I don't want to wake Jade up.

I continue watching her, completely mesmerized by her beauty. She eventually feels my eyes on her and starts to stir. She groans and slowly sits up, exposing her top half to me, and I can clearly see the bruises that whoever left her. Her jaw has gone back to normal but the bruise on her chest has gotten darker. It's worse than the ones that Trina gets after her karate practice, but it's nothing that won't fade away in a couple of days. There's another fading hand shaped bruise on her arm, looks to be about a day or two old. Even with the scars and bruises, she still reflects a perfect image of grace and beauty.

She doesn't acknowledge me at all, she just gets up from the bed, moving over to her mirror to check her bruises. She seems satisfied with her healing process, and goes into the bathroom to get washed up. I fall back onto the bed, resting my hands behind my head. I've got the largest pair of scissors I've ever seen in my life hanging in a frame between my eyes. If that frame were to break, I'd be a dead girl for sure. How is it that a girl who sleeps peacefully with a potential murder weapon hanging above her head, can allow herself to get beat up that badly and do nothing about it?

I hear the tap shut off and the bathroom door swings open, Jade emerging wearing a grey hoodie and some running shorts. She comes over to the bed and sits cross legged beside me, and it's only then that I notice scratch marks on her inner thighs. "So...I guess you want to know what's going on huh?"

I nod and she reaches under her bed, pulling out a bottle of vodka. "Fine Vega, but you better not tell anyone, ever. Deal?" I shake her outstretched hand and she takes a swig of the liquid, straight out of the bottle.

* * *

**_5 years ago, Jade's POV_**

"Come on Jade, it's storming. We've gotta leave soon, you don't want to be late for your dinner party now do you?"

Donned in a mid-length black dress, I slip on my silver heels and fly down the stairs. Beck and I had been dating for about 6 months now, and his family had invited me over for a small family get-together dinner. A warm smile is etched on my mother's face, proudly gazing at me. My father, who is sitting on his arm chair, also wore a similar expression. Me dressing up nicely was a rare sight, since I always insisted on wearing my intimidating black outfits.

"You look beautiful tonight, young lady," my father comments, as I walk past him and towards my waiting mother.

"Absolutely beautiful," she adds, giving me daughter a hug and a light kiss on my forehead.

"Thank y-"

"Yeah yeah, she looks like a fairy princess, now let's get a move on, before my life slips away completely." Jessica yells, standing up from where she was waiting on the porch steps.

I give my father a small smile and wave as mother ushers Jessica and I out of the house, quickly running through the rain to mother's Corolla, and drive off.

Jessica turns on the radio pulls down the sun visor mirror and touches up her make up, while I sits in the backseat, fiddling with my phone. "So Jadey, what's going on at Beck's tonight?" she asks, looking at me through the mirror as she caps her eyeliner.

"Hmm..nothing much, just a family dinner and dessert," I replies, not looking up from my phone.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure you'll be having dessert tonight" she hints with a smirk. My downcast face flushes slightly and mother shakes her head, clicking her tongue disapprovingly.

"Jessica...don't tease your sister like that. You know she won't be getting up to such activities, will you Jade?" mother counters warningly, looking at me through the rear view mirror as she pulls up to a stoplight.

"No, mother, I'll behave myself," I respond obediently. Mother nods and fishes out her phone, scrolling through it while waiting for the light to turn. It eventually does and she puts the car back into drive, slowly accelerating forward.

All of a sudden, the squealing of rubber against rubber is heard over the sound of the rain pounding heavily on top of the car. A horn blares out of nowhere and a pair of headlights shine glaringly into the car. There wasn't enough time to react. The car hit us face on, and I thought that the impact was going to shatter my body on the spot. It happened so fast, one moment I was hearing the bloodcurdling scream of my mother, the next moment I was blinking away my blurry red vision, and I could hear the sound of a car rushing away. I could see cuts all over my body, pieces of glass lodged in my arm and bent metal pressing painfully into my body. An excruciating pain shot up from my legs, and I looked down to see them crushed between the driver's seat and my own. The fact that it was raining didn't help at all, the water seeping painfully into my cuts and eyes. I heard Jessica groaning softly in pain, her breath coming out in soft shallow pants. My mother, on the other hand, was completely silent, and I feared the worst for her. I try to pull my body from the wreckage but I'm completely stuck. Through my blurred vision, I manage to spot the light of my phone within my reach, somewhere in the rubble. I gritted my teeth and powered through, reaching for my phone to make the 911 emergency call. I still had a bit in me left after I made the call, so I sent a short message to Beck.

_To: Beckett Oliver  
Hey Beck, I won't be able to make it for dinner tonight, emergency family business. I'll make it up to you, I promise.  
__x Jade__  
_

I hit send and then my world turned black.

* * *

I woke up to the feeling of being lifted and placed onto a soft surface. I hear someone yelling at me to stay with him. I try my best to lift my heavy eyelids, and I finally manage to when they put the oxygen breathing mask on me. There's a man in a dark blue shirt staring down at me but I pay no attention to him, frantically looking around for Jessica and mom. I see another man zipping up a black body bag and tears start to well up in my eyes. _No, she can't be dead._ The man pushes away the stretcher and starts zipping up another body bag. _Fuck no, they can't both be gone. No, I need them to stay here with me. _A lump forms in my throat and my tears start to fall freely. I sit up, trying to get to them, but a sharp pain shoots through my body and I black out again.

* * *

**_Present, Tori's_ POV**

I watch as Jade takes another long swig of Vodka, finishing up the entire bottle by herself. She's been doing it the entire time while she's been telling her story. She's slightly tipsy for a while now, lying down on her bed, fiddling with Mr Bugsy. She's been crying a little, making her nose red and eyes puffy. She didn't continue her story, just kept on playing aimlessly with Mr Bugsy.

She looks so childlike, but yet so broken and helpless. It's then that my eyes were really open to see Jade West for who she really is. Since the very first day we met, I've put Jade on this pedestal. She always held herself with strength and confidence, commanding respect from people, never letting anyone get in the way of anything she set her heart out to do. Plus, her amazing acting, singing and script writing on top of all that, it made me look up to. I saw her as a figure of perfect, something that couldn't be broken, like a bulletproof sculpture, intricately carved by the careful hands of God, put on display for all the word to admire. But now, I see her as flesh and blood, who is just as, if not more, delicate and fragile as me. Someone with actual feelings, someone who could be hurt by the world. I saw her as a human.

This realization pained me. How many other people saw Jade the way I used to see her? How much pain and neglect has she endured because people thought she couldn't be broken? Who did Jade have to lean on? Certainly not her mother or sister, nor her father with their strained relationship. She used to have Beck but since they've broke up she's been alone. There's been nobody there for Jade.

"Jade, I'm so sorry...I didn't know," I say to her, my own tears welling up in my eyes.

"Why would you know Vega? Nobody knows, except Cat, not even Beck knows. I just told him that they moved away to a boarding school in New York. And don't be sorry, they've gotten off easy, skipped out on this hell hole we call life." She says, throwing the empty vodka bottle into the trash bin next to her study desk. Even while tipsy, her aim is still impeccable, the bottle landing nicely in the bin, shattering inside.

"Wait, Cat knows? As in ditsy, Caterina Valentine, the hugger, Cat knows?"

She nods, "Don't under estimate Cat, that girl is a lot more than she lets on."

Well, you learn something new everyday. "Thanks for sharing that with me Jade, it means a lot to me, that you'd tell me something that you wouldn't even tell Beck."

"Don't mention it Vega, really. Don't ever mention it," she warns, sitting up from her reclined form on the bed. "I'll tell you the rest of the story some other time. Now move your sweet ass, we've got a play to perform at school."

* * *

Whoa guys, did you know that changing the character A and B search between Tori and Jade actually makes a difference in the results? Because I didn't. I think should get on that horse and fix that because honestly that's just darn stupid.

So that's what Jade meant when she said her mom and sister no longer live with her, and that she hopes they're in a better place. All comments, suggestions, and critiques welcome!


	11. Kade and Lori

**No one's POV**

Jade and Tori manage to get to school just before Sikowitz's class started, and good thing too. He would have failed them if they didn't turn up to perform their short play.

Jade and Tori sit themselves down in the middle of the classroom and wait for Sikowitz and the rest of the class to arrive. Tori take out my phone and scroll through the updates on the slap, while Jade takes out a flower from her bag and starts cutting it up with her scissors.

Andre comes in a little later, dragging a seat next to Tori for himself. "Hey chica, didn't see you first and second period," he comments as he settles down.

"Nah I slept over at Jade's last night, we woke up late but here we are," Tori answers, turning her attention from her phone to him.

"Yo and you made it through all in one piece? No cuts or bruises?" he asks jokingly, making a show of checking her arms and legs for signs of foul play. Tori's about to throw him a sarcastic answer but answer but a threatening snip from Jade's scissors made him shrink back, raising his hands in surrender.

Soon enough, Sikowitz climbs through the window, landing not so gracefully on the stage floor. The number of times he's hit his head while climbing through the window, it's no wonder why he's as bat shit crazy as he is.

"Good morning young performers," he greets as he takes out a coconut from his pants. "Today is an exciting day, do you know what it's time for?" He pauses to take a long sip from his coconut, eyeing us expectantly. He swallows and let's out a long "ahhhhh", but doesn't continue speaking. We all sit in an awkward silence for a moment, before Jade pipes up.

"What is it time for?" she asks in an exasperated but uninterested tone, pulling out yet another flower from her bag to destroy. God, does she have a flower shop hidden in there or something?

"Glad you asked Jade. Today, you will be presenting the short play you've written in pairs over the weekend. I hope you're ready because I expect all of you to kill it on stage," he announces, meandering around chairs to sit at an empty chair at the back of the class.

"One time, someone told my brother to kill it on stage and h-"

"JADE! Tori! Why don't you two go first?" Sikowitz calls, cutting Cat off before she can get into another story about her crazy brother. Jade and Tori get up on stage, and wait for Sikowitz to give us our queue to start.

"Don't tell us what emotions you've chosen. Let us guess after you finish your performance, then we can see how successful you were at portraying the emotions. Aaaaaand, ACTION!"

"Why are you still with him Kade? He treats you horribly!" Tori asks as she wraps her arms around Jade from behind.

Jade shrugs out of Tori's grasp and takes a step back, putting some distance between themselves. "No Lori, not right now. Jeremey loves me. He says he does, so he must."

"How can you believe what he says when he does nothing but hurt you, day in and day out?!" Lori questions, trying to control the frustration in her voice.

"I hurt him even more by cheating on him with you!" Kade yells back, breaking into tears.

Lori cautiously approaches Kade again, slowly wrapping her in a hug. This time, Kade doesn't push her away, instead finds comfort in the crook of her neck, still sobbing.

"I want you Kade. I treat you better than him. Why don't you just break up with him?" Lori asks softly.

Kade pulls back from the hug but still remains in Lori's arms. "Jeremey loves me. You just want sex with me. You don't love me, you lust me," she responds, wiping away her tears.

"I want you Kade! I treat you right! Why can't you just leave it at that?"

"You don't love me."

"I want you."

"But you don't love me."

A beat of intense silence passes. The hands on Kade's shoulders suddenly move to grab her face and pull her in for a rough, passionate kiss. Kade tries to push Lori away but Lori's strong grip on her face keeps her there. Eventually, Kade gives up resisting and melts into the kiss, wrapping her arms around Lori's waist.

"Aaaaand scene! Well done girls! That was definitely a lot better than I expected from you two," Sikowitz praises, and Tori and Jade break apart. "Now, who wants to guess the emotions they picked?"

The entire class was silent, too shocked to even comprehend Sikowitz speaking. They were all still trying to digest the fact that Jade West had willingly written a play in which she kisses Tori Vega, the girl whom she hates. Well, all except Cat, that is. Realizing that no one was going to speak up any time soon, she rolls her eyes and pipes up in her cheery voice, "love and comfort!" That seemed to snap the rest of the class out of their stupor and they start murmuring and nodding in agreement, looking to Tori and Jade for the verdict.

"Umm actually, we chose to do lust and anger," Tori corrects, "Lori lusting after Kade and being angry that Jeremey treats Kade badly and that Kade doesn't want to let her have her."

"But Kade and Lori are obviously in love, and just doesn't want to admit it," Robbie argues.

"Yeah and Lori wants to make Kade hers and comfort her but she's too scared to admit she loves her so she just sleeps with her," comments Andre, backing him up.

"Tori and Jade kissed," Beck mutters, obviously still not able to wrap his head around the what just happened.

The rest of the class nods in agreement, continuing to murmur and discuss their opinions on Kade and Lori's relationship.

"Uhhh not exactly, Lori does like Kade but she doesn't love her," Tori tries to explain, getting slightly flustered. "She just lusts after her and -"

"HEY," Jade's sharp voice cuts through, getting everyone to shut up immediately. "You know what? Yeah Tori and I kissed for a skit. Big deal. We chose the emotions lust and anger. If you don't believe it then not my problem," she yells, grabbing her bag and storming out of class, leaving a still slightly stunned and confused class, and Tori standing awkwardly on stage by herself.

* * *

**Tori's POV**

"Jade! Jade! Hey wait up! Jade!" I call after Jade while running down the empty hallway, trying to catch up with her.

Jade may be a fast runner, but I'm faster. I manage to catch up with her before she manages to get too far, grabbing her wrist and pulling her into the janitor's closet.

"Goddamnit Vega, let go of me! I've had enough of you for today," Jade yells, trying to shake my grip off her. Her top rises up a little in the process and I spot the black plastic handles of her scissors peeking out from above the waistband of her skirt, that same pair of scissors that I found on her when she came to my house on Christmas. I reach out and yank it out of her skirt before she can use them as a weapon against me.

"GIVE ME BACK MY SCISSORS NOW, VEGA! BEFORE I KILL YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS," Jade warns, starting to scratch and grab at me, completely neglecting the fact I'm the one the scissors in hand. I must admit though, even without her scissors, she comes off just at threatening and dangerous as before. I've seen Jade angry but I've never seen her this enraged before. I consider the option of running for my life, but I quickly dismiss it, deciding that we have to talk about this.

In one quick movement, I push her against a shelf in the corner and grab her wrists, preventing her from escaping or hurting me. She struggled for a while before calming down, but her eyes stared straight into mine, telling me that there would be hell to pay once I released her. It was terrifying, standing up to Jade like this, but I refused to back down.

"Why did you get so worked up over their comments? You've gotten much worse before, and you usually just brush them off like they're nothing, so what's so different this time?" I asked, staring her straight in the eye. A look of sadness flashed across Jade's eyes, and she quickly adverted her eyes in attempt to hide it. There was a lot more to this than just a slew of comments, but I decided not to push it. You can never get anywhere by pushing Jade.

I take her hands in mine and interlace our fingers. She didn't pull back of flinch, and just enjoyed the simple feeling of our conjoined hands. I don't know why I did it, it just seemed right in the moment. "Look Jade, who cares what they all think. We did it for a skit, and it was a great skit, as Sikowitz said. So why don't you and I ditch this place and head to my place and chill for the rest of the day?"

* * *

So there's chapter 11! I apologize for the long wait, I've been busy with my preliminary exams. I also had to keep rewriting the chapter but this is the best I could do. Unfortunately, I can't promise you that updates will come any sooner until I end my actual O Level exams in early November, but what I can promise is that I won't give up on the story, so you can bet your ass that there will be an update in time to come.

I am also very sad at the moment because I spend the entire yesterday and a good part of today trying to find Avan in Singapore, only to find out that he only stopped over and he just flew his hot ass on to Brunei. I also somehow managed to misplace my wallet in the process :(

Also, I made a Kik so you guys are welcome to add adriannecchuck and yell at me to update over there too :)


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